Review Summary

To watch "Fever Pitch," the thoroughly winning if not especially good romantic comedy by Peter and Bobby Farrelly, is to appreciate, yet again, that the great loves of our lives are rarely perfect. That is, of course, not big news. If Hollywood has taught us anything over the last century it is that every so often a seemingly ordinary commercial enterprise can afford us fleeting access to the sublime. And for my money, there are few movie moments right now more sublime than the image of Drew Barrymore running across a major league baseball field and, with that famous jaw jutting into the wind, dodging ballplayers and storybook clichés to save the windup of this imperfectly true romance. Based on the memoir by Nick Hornby, the film doesn't fully work, but I ended up rooting for it anyway, partly because Ms. Barrymore and her costar Jimmy Fallon make a nice fit, partly because the Farrellys bring so much heart to their movies, and partly because Ms. Barrymore inspires such great goodwill. — Manohla Dargis